I still believe
by suzy5
Summary: Ruthie realizes that she doesn't really love TBone. A Marthie song fic


_Tonight's series finale was crap and no matter what Martin and Ruthie belong together. Takes place a few months after the RV experience._

_Criminal Lyrics by Alexz Johnson and I still believe by Mariah Carey_

A few weeks after being on RV Ruthie was beginning to rethink her hasty decision.

_I won't deny  
I faked it  
Don't wanna lie  
I'm jaded  
I wanna scream  
When inside I'm breaking down, mmm_

She had thought she was in love with T-Bone, after all he promised security and stability, something Martin could never really do. However she found herself still thinking about Martin and replaying the kiss they had shared.

_I've left the stone  
I was under  
I'm running home  
You won't find her  
She walks alone  
All through this broken town_

_Flashback_

"_So are you sure you are over T-Bone?" Martin asked for the tenth time as they were sitting at the park. Ruthie was trying to finish her calculus homework and Martin was studying for his last final._

"_I told you I was" Ruthie replied rolling her eyes as she looked over at him a bit impatiently "why do you keep asking me that question?"_

"_I just want to make sure. You have been hanging out with me a lot and I want to make sure it is because you want to and not to make him jealous"_

"_Well him being jealous is a bonus but I'm hanging out with you because I like hanging out with you"_

"_Okay, that's all I wanted to know" Martin said as he moved closer to Ruthie and she said "Uh Martin, you are blocking my light"_

"_Ruthie can you focus on me instead of your calculus for one second?"_

"_Martin..." she began as she felt his lips press gently on hers for a minute as she became frozen._

_He pulled away and looked anxiously at her before Ruthie pulled on him and kissed him back._

_End of flashback_

Ruthie smiled as she thought how excited she was when they had finally kissed….of course that was marred once she realized he was dating Jane as well as herself.

"Are you okay? You have been quiet all day" Lucy asked as she sat down across from her baby sister. Ruthie nodded slightly before saying "Yes...I'm just thinking"

"Oh about graduating early huh? I am so happy and proud of you"

"Thanks" Ruthie replied as Lucy looked closer at her sister. For someone who claimed to be in love, she really did look quite pale and lately seemed to be separating herself from T-bone and the family.

As she was about to question her, Ruthie's cell phone rang and Ruthie picked it up mouthing "Sorry" as she moved to the back of the RV.

"Hi, I wasn't sure what your schedule was going to be this week" Ruthie said as she listened for a moment and then smiled brightly before asking

_Goin' the wrong way down a one way street  
Where the feeling is criminal  
Nobody helps me out when I bleed  
Just look, look  
Looking for someone like me  
Where the feeling is mutual  
Can anybody see what I see  
Cuz I don't see me_

Ruthie listened for a moment before saying "Well T-bone is leaving in two days so there will be an extra space" she listened for a second before laughing "Are you kidding? They love you. So I'll see you in a couple of days"

Ruthie walked up to where parents where sitting since Stanley was driving "Hey do you mind if Martin took T-Bone's place when we drop him off?"

"Why do I feel as though this question has a double meaning?" Rev. Camden asked smiling. He loved T-bone as much as anyone though he had always thought somewhere down the road Martin would be the one Ruthie chose.

"Is T-Bone okay with that?" Mrs. Camden asked carefully as Ruthie nodded "Yes, we are not married and we decided it would be best to be friends"

"May I ask why? You seemed so happy three weeks ago"

"I know, I'm a teenager and I can't make up my mind. I guess I never really took a chance to think about Martin's proposal"

"Proposal? I thought..." Mrs. Camden said holding her heart "No I meant to date one another" Ruthie hurriedly corrected her before asking "So will it be okay?"

"Sure" Rev. Camden replied as Ruthie smiled at him before kissing him on the cheek.

Two weeks later

"I'm so glad to be off that RV" Ruthie said to Martin as they were waiting for the rest of the family.

"It's not that bad" Martin replied as Ruthie grinned "You're just being polite. It's getting pretty suffocating and people are getting attitudes"

"Well I guess Jane wasn't prepared to see me"

"I guess not, I'm sorry I didn't tell her earlier, I suppose I figured it would all work out"

"I'm sure it will. Besides I'm only going to stay a week"

"I thought you said two weeks" Ruthie asked pouting slightly

"Well I did but my dad needs me back to help him"

"Think my parents will let me go back with you?"

"Um...probably not" Martin said as Ruthie bit her lip before saying "Then I guess we have our work cut out for us"

"Our work?" Martin repeated in disbelief as Ruthie nodded and asked "Don't you want me back in Glen Oak for the summer?" as she moved closer and Martin blushed dropping his book before stepping back to pick it up.

"I suppose I can help" he finally conceded

"That's what I thought" she replied smiling happily

_I blow away  
The ashes  
I clear his face  
To look at it  
He stole my name_

_  
_"So what exactly are we telling your parents?"

"The truth" Ruthie replied as Martin looked down at her before asking "and that would be?"

"That I am going to start taking summer courses at the community college"

"Okay and how do I fit in this plan?"

"You will tell them that I will be perfectly fine and you and your dad will check up on me"

"Do you really think they are going to let you return to Glen Oak alone?"

"That's the beauty of it, I won't be alone, and I will be with you"

"So how are things with you and T-bone or are we agreeing not to discuss that?"

_You look in my eyes and I get emotional inside.  
I know it's crazy but you still can touch my heart.  
And after all this time you'd think that I,  
I wouldn't feel the same but time melts into nothing and nothing's  
changed.  
_

"Let's not discuss that at all, remember that was one of the rules in order for us to continue being friends" Ruthie replied as Martin nodded and became silent.

_I still believe someday you and me will find ourselves in love again.  
I had a dream someday you and me will find ourselves in love again._

Three weeks later Ruthie was back home attending community college for the summer. As she stepped out of her classroom she saw noticed Martin leaning on his car in the parking lot.

"What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't get the day off?" she asked as he answered "I'm on my lunch break so I figured I could take you home and you could make me lunch"

"That's really nice of you to offer my services" Ruthie replied smiling as Martin raised his eyebrow and replied "You did say you owe me for helping you to stay home, alone and unsupervised"

_Each day of my life I'm filled with all the joy I could find.  
You know that I, I'm not the desperate type.  
If there's one spark of hope left in my grasp, I'll hold it with both  
hands. It's worth the risk of burning to have a second chance._

"I am hardly alone since you are always over" she quipped back as he opened the car door for her and said "That really hurt Ruthie."

"You'll get over it"

When the reached the Camden house, Martin picked the mail up and could see a postcard addressed to Ruthie from T-Bone. Without meaning to read it he noticed the first few words on the card that read

_Ruthie, I miss you too. I hope you are doing well. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated our last night together and I will never forget it. You are so special to me and I will always love you, no matter what.-Theodore_

"Hey are you in the mood for sandwiches or cold pizza?" Ruthie asked him as he walked into the kitchen, his face pale and his green eyes stormy.

"What game are you playing here Ruth?" he asked her, his voice tinged with anger.

"What are you talking about?" Ruthie answered him as he laughed a bit before answering "I get it. You decide to use my feelings that I have for you to get what you want, right? And then to add salt to the open wound make out with me on numerous occasions when you are _still_ dating T-bone! What were you thinking?"

Ruthie's eyes widened a bit before she said "Martin, I can explain…"

"Why don't you save your explanations for someone who actually cares" he said as he walked out, dropping the post card on the table.

Three days later Martin still wasn't speaking to Ruthie even though she had called him a dozen times and had managed to track down his work schedule.

She had even called her parents for advice. Finally Mr. Brewer agreed to help since he could see that his son was miserable just very angry. As she was waiting for Martin to come home, Mr. Brewer was making dinner.

_I still believe that we can be together  
_

"Ruthie?" Mr. Brewer finally asked "you are here to apologize to Martin right? To get things back to how they were?"

"That's the plan" Ruthie replied smiling nervously as Mr. Brewer asked "and what exactly was the status of your relationship before?"

Ruthie shrugged before answering "I'm not exactly sure what it was. We were getting use to being with one another, I guess."

"You do realize that he is in love with you?"

"Well he probably was in love with me…but now I'm not so sure"

"Oh trust me. He is angry and disappointed but still very much in love with you."

_If we believe that true love never has to end. Then we must know that we will love again.  
_

"I guess I feel kind of guilty. I never told him the status of my relationship with T-bone which was pretty much over a week after we left. I told Martin I was in love with T-bone but I was more in love with the fact that someone loved me. I've been in awe of Martin for practically forever and then finally hearing him say all the things I waited to hear him say made me feel…numb. I suppose if I was truly honest I wanted to hurt him the way he hurt me…..Not very mature I know"

"And when you came home, you two seemed to be more than friends" Mr. Brewer prompted as Ruthie nodded her head in agreement and said "We were…I didn't mean to start kissing martin until I had sorted everything out with T-Bone but…..well…Martin can be persuasive when he wants something"

"Hopefully this works then" Mr. Brewer said at last as he gave Ruthie a hug when he heard Martin's car pull up in the driveway.

"Dad? I'm home." Ruthie heard as Martin walked in through the side door to see Ruthie sitting on the couch.

His heart stopped a moment as he took in her shiny, curly locks and the adorable baby doll dress she was wearing. As he glanced at her glossy cheery lips, he told himself to remain strong.

"What are you doing here? Did you need something?" he finally asked as she looked at him sadly before answering "I would like my best friend back"

"Well in order to do that you will have to start telling the truth, starting with T-bone" Martin replied as he crossed his arms across his chest and looked over at her.

Ruthie sighed before saying "Fine. T-bone and I are over and have been over a week after we left but I wanted to make sure, you know? I mean I told you I was in love with T-bone, really in love and I saw a future with him…and then I started rethinking about it…and we were in such close quarters I realized that T-bone symbolized all the things I wanted in a partner…"

Martin rolled his eyes as she continued "but he wasn't the guy that I saw myself with. It has always been you Martin and you were too….selfish to notice that and when you did notice that you still used me and you became a person that I would never want to date or give my heart to. I mean quite honestly you broke my heart the first time. If I had chosen you there were no guarantees that you wouldn't hurt me in the long run. T-bone is all about stability and I wanted that"

_I still believe (yeeaaah) someday you and me will find ourselves in  
love again._

"So what was the post card about?" Martin finally asked as Ruthie smiled "It was about being true to ourselves and one another. T-bone wants a family and he knew that dating me would make my family his as well. I just had to assure him that they would love him if he was dating me or not."

"So you two haven't been dating since we started…..."

"No you have been the guy since you joined us on the RV" Ruthie replied as Martin looked at her before saying "that still doesn't excuse the fact that you have been leading me on the entire time"

"What are you talking about? How have I been leading you on? I have only went out with you and you're the only guy I have been making out with so what more do you want?"

"You! I want you. I want you to give me your word that I'm the only guy you are ever going to kiss"

"You're a little possessive" Ruthie said smirking slightly before walking over to him and giving him a hug before relenting "Fine. You're the only guy that I am ever going to kiss…until you screw up and I dump you"

"That's so nice…If people heard you talk they would think you wouldn't love me"

"I don't love you" Ruthie shot back as Martin looked down at her in shock before asking "What?"

"Joke….of course I love you."

"Good because I love you too." Martin said smiling as he bent to kiss her on the lips as Mr. Brewer walked in happy that they were back where they belonged….in each other's arms.

_  
Oh baby yeah, I had a dream someday you and me will find  
ourselves in love again._

_I still believe (oh baby I do) some day you and me (just give me one more try) in love again. _

_I had a dream (Imiss your love) someday you and me will find ourselves in love again.  
I still believe (yeah I still believe) someday you and me (baby) in love again._


End file.
